MnDOT's typo on new I-35W signs has motorists laughing

With hundreds of thousands of signs along its roadways, MnDOT is bound to get things wrong once in a while.

It did with at least six new signs recently posted along the high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on I-35W in south Minneapolis in which the agency misspelled the word vehicle.

"2 or more persons per vehilce," read the signs.

"I could not stop laughing," said Scott Prescott in an e-mail to the Star Tribune. "My wife and I thought we were in Arkansas where we once saw a sign that read "open 26/7."

The signs, which are required by the Federal Highway Administration to designate preferential lanes, were affixed to posts in the center median of I-35W where MnDOT is putting in new HOT lanes near the Lake Street transit station and downtown Minneapolis as part of the $240 million "Downtown to Crosstown" construction project. The lanes are expected to open Sept. 10 when a massive four-year rebuild of the freeway is set to be completed.

"It was a fabrication error," said MnDOT spokeswoman Sue Gergen, who handles communication for E-ZPass.

Earlier this month, Minnesota switched from MnPass to E-ZPass, an electronic toll collection system used in 18 other states.

It is believed the contractor working on the I-35W construction project was responsible for the gaffe and will make the correction, said Anne Meyer, a MnDOT spokeswoman.

The signs were to come down soon, she said.

It was not immediately clear how much it will cost to fix the mistake, or how long it will take to replace them, Meyer said. But the signs are part of the contract with Ames Construction, which is responsible for them.

"We have misspelled signs before," Meyer said. "No one in the chain noticed it and the signs went up when they were done. We will look at 'vehicle' from here on out."

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768